A pharmaceutical firm is accused of knowingly selling a morning sickness drug that causes severe birth defects in unborn babies. Daniel Ames, an attorney for the legal firm representing that company is accused of delivering damaging legal papers to the plaintiffs. He is caught in a net of deceit, greed, corruption, conspiracy and murder.

An awful lot for one man to cope with. How he does it is told in The Associate, a thriller of the first degree that starts off running and never stops. At one point, the story digresses to another unhappy tale and as the reader gets caught up in the new line, it merges with the original story and steps up the pace even more. This happens a second time and only enhances the whole troubling scenario.

Philip Margolin has surpassed himself with The Associate, his eighth mystery. The characters are strong and well defined. It's easy to dislike some of them and to wonder about the motives of others. The action races from page to page, only stopping long enough to give the reader time to breath. Well worth a read for those who love thrillers – and even for those who don't.

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